In this guide
Before you start.
- Work out which Microsoft 365 you have, because there are three different answers. A consumer plan bought from Microsoft is cancelled at account.microsoft.com. A business plan is cancelled in the Microsoft 365 admin center. A work or school licence your employer assigned cannot be cancelled by you at all.
- Sign in with the exact account that paid. Microsoft states it is important to sign in using the account which purchased the subscription, and a subscription bought on a different Microsoft account will not appear in your services list.
- Check where you bought it. Microsoft states that if you purchased a Microsoft 365 subscription from Google Play or the Apple App Store you should contact their customer support for cancellation or refund, and that a subscription bought from a third-party retailer such as Amazon or Harvey Norman is managed by that retailer directly.
- If you prepaid with a product key there may be nothing to cancel. Microsoft states that if you prepaid for your subscription with a product key, your subscription expires at the end of the subscription term, and that a Microsoft 365 Business Standard customer who activated with a product key can let the subscription end by taking no action.
- Back up OneDrive before the plan ends. Microsoft states that after cancellation your storage reverts to 5 GB of cloud storage and 15 GB of Outlook.com storage, that existing files remain but are read-only, that after three months over the limit your OneDrive account is frozen, and that after six months Microsoft might delete your OneDrive and all files within it, and that once deleted these files are non-recoverable.
- On Family, everyone loses out. Microsoft states that if you cancel a Microsoft 365 Family or Premium subscription, all the people you shared your subscription with will also have their storage allowances reduced, as well as losing other subscription benefits.
- Refund eligibility is only revealed after you cancel. Microsoft states that to check refund eligibility on a subscription you purchased from Microsoft you need to cancel it first, that not all cancellations result in a refund, and that eligibility is determined automatically during the cancellation process.
- On a business subscription, two things block the cancellation before you start. Microsoft states that if you added your own domain name you must remove the domain before you cancel, and that a subscription with more than 25 licences must be reduced to 25 or fewer before it can be cancelled online.
FOLLOW THE RIGHT BILLING ROUTE
Cancel Microsoft 365, step by step.
Cancel Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Basic
This is the route for a plan you bought yourself from Microsoft. It covers Personal, Family, Basic, Premium and Pro.
- Go to account.microsoft.com/services/microsoft365 and sign in with the same Microsoft account used to purchase your Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Find your subscription and select Manage if that step appears.
- Select Cancel subscription. Microsoft notes it might say Upgrade or Cancel, depending on your subscription.
- Read the Please review section at the top of the cancel page: Microsoft notes this may include details of alternative subscriptions, which could be cheaper.
- At the bottom of the page, select "I don't want my subscription" to go ahead, or "I want to keep my benefits" to stop.
- Check the services page afterwards for the expiry date.
Microsoft states that if you do not see an option to cancel but see a link saying Turn on recurring billing, your subscription is already set to expire on the date shown, you will not be charged after that date, and no further action is required. In Germany, Microsoft states you can cancel without signing in to your Microsoft account.
Cancel a Microsoft 365 Business subscription
Business plans are cancelled in the admin center, and only by someone holding a billing role. The labels differ depending on whether your billing account is a Microsoft Customer Agreement or a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement.
- Remove any custom domain you added to the subscription first, and reduce the licence count to 25 or fewer if you have more, since Microsoft states a subscription above that cannot be cancelled online.
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center. In Simplified view select Subscriptions, or in Dashboard view go to Billing, then Your products.
- Select the subscription that you want to cancel.
- On a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement account: in the Subscription and payment settings section, select Cancel subscription, then in the Options for canceling your subscription pane select Cancel now or Cancel before the next renewal date, select Next, choose a reason and select Cancel now.
- On a Microsoft Customer Agreement account: in the Billing settings section under Subscription status, select Cancel subscription, choose a reason and select Cancel subscription.
- If you are outside the grace period on a Microsoft Customer Agreement, Microsoft states you can only turn off recurring billing: use edit the recurring billing settings, set Edit recurring billing to Off and select Save.
Microsoft states that the required role depends on the billing account type: a Microsoft Customer Agreement needs a Billing account owner or contributor, or a Billing profile owner or contributor, while a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement needs at least a Billing Administrator. It states that if you signed up for the subscription you are automatically a Billing account owner.
A subscription bought through an app store or a retailer
Microsoft sells Microsoft 365 through other channels, and each one owns the cancellation. Your receipt tells you which.
- Check the receipt or the order confirmation to see who charged you.
- For an Apple App Store purchase, cancel in Settings on your Apple device under your name, Subscriptions, and request any refund from Apple support.
- For a Google Play purchase, cancel at play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions.
- For a retailer such as Amazon, contact them directly: Microsoft states that a third-party retailer manages your subscription and billing.
- For a reseller or partner-sold subscription, contact your seller or partner to cancel.
- For an Xbox subscription, use the Xbox subscription cancellation flow rather than the Microsoft 365 one.
Microsoft states that its own refund policy does not apply to prepaid retail subscription codes, which are subject to the return policies of the retailer from which you bought the code.
A work or school licence you cannot cancel
This is the case where the honest answer is that there is no button for you. The licence belongs to your employer's tenant, not to you.
- Check whether your account is a work or school account rather than a personal Microsoft account: a work account will not appear at account.microsoft.com under Services and subscriptions.
- If it does not appear, the licence was assigned to you by an administrator and only that administrator can remove it.
- Microsoft's stated guidance is to contact your Microsoft 365 admin or IT staff for help with the licence you have.
- If you are being charged personally for something you thought was a work licence, check your personal Microsoft account separately: those are two different subscriptions.
Microsoft draws the line explicitly: an Office for home product is managed by signing in with your Microsoft account under Services and subscriptions, while a business product is managed by an admin.
What happens next?
- The apps stop being fully usable rather than uninstalling themselves. Microsoft states that Word, Excel and PowerPoint move into read-only or view mode, and that you get an Unlicensed Product notification in the title bar with most features disabled.
- Storage drops hard. Microsoft states you revert to 5 GB of cloud storage and 15 GB of Outlook.com storage, that you cannot upload, edit or sync new files, that existing files remain but are read-only, and that you cannot send or receive email in Outlook.com if you exceed your quota, with incoming emails returned to the sender.
- There is a two-stage deletion clock. Microsoft states that after three months over the OneDrive storage limit your OneDrive account is frozen, and that after six months Microsoft might delete your OneDrive and all files within it, with those files non-recoverable once deleted. A separate Microsoft page states twelve months for the same deletion, so treat six months as the deadline to work to.
- Consumer refunds are narrow. Microsoft states you may receive a refund within 30 days of your initial purchase or before your first recurring billing date, whichever is sooner, and separately that you are entitled to a refund of your most recent recurring billing charge if you cancel within 30 days after payment, limited to one time per Microsoft account per subscription product. It states prorated refunds are not available in most countries.
- Business subscriptions move through documented states. Microsoft states a subscription goes Expired for 30 days, then Disabled for 90 days, then Deleted, that during Disabled the data is accessible to admins only, and that on deletion the data is deleted and Microsoft Entra ID is removed.
- Deleting a business subscription outright skips the safety net. Microsoft states that if you explicitly delete a subscription it skips the Expired and Disabled states and the SharePoint Online data and content, including OneDrive content, is deleted immediately.
- Microsoft states that if you have an annual subscription and are paying monthly, you are charged each month for the remainder of your subscription term. Cancelling does not stop those instalments.
WHEN IT DOES NOT WORK
If you get stuck.
There is no Cancel button, only Turn on recurring billing
Nothing is broken and nothing is left to do. Microsoft states that if you see a link saying Turn on recurring billing, your subscription is already set to expire on the date shown, you will not be charged after that date, and no further action is required. You can keep using it until it expires. People read the missing cancel link as a hidden button and go looking for support.
The admin center will not let me cancel
Three documented blockers. Microsoft states you must remove a custom domain before cancelling if you added one. It states a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement subscription with more than 25 licences cannot be cancelled online and must be reduced to 25 or fewer first. And the control is gated by billing role, so a Global admin without a billing role may not see it: a Microsoft Customer Agreement needs a Billing account or profile owner or contributor, and a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement needs at least a Billing Administrator.
I cancelled but Microsoft is still charging me every month
Check whether you bought an annual subscription paid monthly. Microsoft states that in that case you are charged each month for the remainder of your subscription term, so the instalments continue to the end of the year you committed to. On the business side, also check whether you turned off recurring billing rather than cancelling: Microsoft states that turning off recurring billing does not cancel the subscription and it remains active until it expires.
My subscription is on a Microsoft account I cannot get into
This is the hardest case, because Microsoft states it is important to sign in using the account which purchased the subscription and there is no route that bypasses it. Work through Microsoft account recovery, and use your order history and the card statement to identify which email address was used. If a retailer or an app store sold it to you, they can stop the charge without the Microsoft account.
I cancelled Family and my relatives lost things I did not expect
Cancellation propagates to everyone you shared with. Microsoft states that all the people you shared your subscription with will also have their storage allowances reduced, as well as losing other subscription benefits. Worth knowing in the other direction too: Microsoft states that AI benefits are only available to the subscription owner and cannot be shared with additional members, so those never reached them in the first place.
My product key subscription started charging me a year later
Recurring billing was switched on at some point. Microsoft documents that you can turn on recurring billing for a subscription bought with a prepaid card and add a payment method, and that the card is not charged until the initial subscription term expires. That means the first charge arrives roughly a year after what felt like a one-off purchase. Turn recurring billing off in your services list to stop the next one.
Still not cancelled?Common reasons a subscription will not cancel
GOOD TO KNOW
Questions, answered.
How do I cancel Microsoft 365 Personal or Family?
Go to account.microsoft.com/services/microsoft365, sign in with the Microsoft account that bought the subscription, select Cancel subscription, which may say Upgrade or Cancel, then select "I don't want my subscription" at the bottom of the review page.
What happens to my OneDrive files after Microsoft 365 ends?
Microsoft states your storage reverts to 5 GB, that existing files remain but are read-only, that after three months over the limit your OneDrive account is frozen, and that after six months Microsoft might delete your OneDrive and all files within it, with the files non-recoverable once deleted. Download anything you need before then.
Can I get a refund for Microsoft 365?
Microsoft states you may receive a refund within 30 days of your initial purchase or before your first recurring billing date, whichever is sooner, and separately a refund of your most recent recurring charge if you cancel within 30 days after payment, limited to one time per account per product. It states you have to cancel first because eligibility is determined automatically during the cancellation process.
Can I cancel a Microsoft 365 licence my employer gave me?
No. A work or school licence is assigned from your employer's tenant and does not appear in your personal Microsoft account. Microsoft's stated guidance is to contact your Microsoft 365 admin or IT staff, who are the only people who can remove it.
Is turning off recurring billing the same as cancelling?
On a consumer plan, effectively yes: Microsoft states that seeing Turn on recurring billing means the subscription is already set to expire and no further action is required. On a business subscription they are different: Microsoft states that turning off recurring billing does not cancel the subscription, which remains active until it expires.
Provider resources
- Microsoft: cancel a Microsoft 365 subscription
- Microsoft: subscription refund policy
- Microsoft: how to get a refund on a Microsoft subscription
- Microsoft: storage quotas and what happens when you exceed them
- Microsoft: cancel your business subscription
- Microsoft: what happens if my subscription expires
- Microsoft: renew your subscription and recurring billing
- Microsoft: which business product or licence do I have
- Microsoft: unlicensed product and activation errors
Instructions reviewed .
Subex is independent of Microsoft 365. Availability and cancellation terms can vary by plan, billing provider and country.
